Former Jackson County Library Director and Fontana Regional Library System Director Tracy Fitzmaurice has received an American Library Association “I Love My Librarian Award.”

Fitzmaruice was one of 10 winners nationwide. According to a an ALA press release, the 2026 honorees are “exceptional” in their field and were nominated by community members “for their expertise, dedication, and profound impact on the people in their communities.” 

The question of who will control one of Jackson County’s most visible public assets is beginning to draw clear lines, and on March 26, Sylva’s Board of Commissioners stepped firmly onto one side. 

In a unanimous vote, commissioners adopted a resolution supporting continued control of the Jackson County Library Complex by the Jackson County Public Library, signaling opposition to any effort that would shift authority elsewhere. 

When Grace Powell walks into the Jackson County Public Library on June 1 as its new full-time director, she will inherit more than a building full of books — she will inherit a community still divided. 

Powell, a lifelong Sylva resident, earned her elementary education degree at Western Carolina University, taught third grade at Scotts Creek elementary school for a year and a half before earning a master’s degree in library science from East Carolina University.

A week and a half after Fontana Regional Library Director Tracy Fitzmaurice tendered her resignation, the board is moving forward to find a replacement. 

At a specially called Feb. 9 meeting at the Jackson County Library’s community room, the board went into a closed session to discuss details. 

To the Editor:

I’m sorry to read that Tracy Fitzmaurice resigned as head of the Fontana Regional Library System, and I want to say something clearly in defense of Tracy.

Tracy has given decades of steady, public-minded service to the Fontana Regional Library community — she’s been with the system since 1991 and stepped into the director role in January 2023. That kind of institutional knowledge and calm competence isn’t replaceable on a 30-day timeline. 

The Sylva Herald and The Smoky Mountain News last Friday received anonymous emails threatening both publications if the papers, specifically The Herald, do not report on the Fontana Regional Library kerfuffle the way the author of the email wants.

More than a decade after Jackson County residents helped finance and shape what became one of the county’s most visible civic institutions, a longtime library advocate returned to the commissioners chamber Jan. 6 to issue a warning — decisions made now could quietly unravel what the community deliberately built together.

To the Editor:

I just finished reading The Smoky Mountain News article about the proposed amendments to the FRL agreement. In the article quotes Todd Bryson: “the [FRL] Board of Trustees, they have more authority than what they realize to make some of these changes that need to be made.” 

After months of tension between Jackson County and the Fontana Regional Library system, commissioners appear to be charting a new course — one that could ultimately reverse their June decision to withdraw from the regional library partnership. 

At the very end of their Nov. 4 meeting, Jackson commissioners discussed three proposed amendments to the Fontana Regional Library interlocal agreement. 

To the Editor:

The decision facing Jackson County’s leaders is more than an administrative matter. It is a test of values. Will our commissioners uphold the long tradition of education, cooperation and integrity that has defined our community, or will they yield to a small, insistent minority determined to restrict access to educational information under the false banner of protecting children?